Path Of A Ninja
by DReamer32
Summary: Chapter 2 now available at the local internet browser!
1.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Oni, have the rights to it nor even helped develop it. Oni and the characters within are the product and property of Take Two Interactive unless the character(s) is/are invented by me.

This is my first attempt at writing a fic. The storyline is loosely based on original Oni storyline.

Path Of A Ninja

Sakura was watching the battle for a long time already. The violet haired woman was striking again and again and it seemed, that if the battle was not between two equally strong opponents, then Mukade was the weakest of them two. You can't say that the destiny of her sensei, master ninja for the others, didn't interest Sakura. Otherwise, she was hoping, that Mukade would be defeated, so that the place of master ninja would be free, and Sakura would not let the opportunity of taking it slip away.

Mukade could not bare the weight of fury unleashed on him by the violet haired women and fell down beaten, something rolled away from his hand. The women came nearer and broke his neck with her foot. She stood near the body, thinking about something for a few seconds, then picked up the object and ran away into the darkness of night.

Sakura remained where she was; her lips were distorted in disappointment. Were all her artful plans of killing Mukade in vain? Was he always so weak that could be beaten by some student-girl? Was she postponing the death of Mukade in vain for all these long month?

It was not safe to come nearer Mukade's body yet, besides the warm air from the ventilation pipes of the house, which's rooftop she selected as a place for watching, was blowing at Sakura. She felt herself very warm and cozy this night, which appeared to be colder then Sakura wanted it to be. Even the thought of leaving streams of warm air seemed blasphemous to her. Suddenly the steam from the pipe in front of Sakura became much more intensive then before, with a light movement of her hand Sakura changed the preferences of her visor. Though she could do it mentally (the electrodes of visor not only sent information on the sight nerve, but also received it from the other parts of her brain) she preferred to do it manually, if, of course, she was in relative safety.

What she saw made the self-satisfied smile leave her face: Mukade was slowly getting up. This made Sakura leave her warm watching spot and head into the cold of starless, as all that were before this one, night.

Less then in a second after she left her watching spot, Sakura was already standing behind the cleaning himself of dust Mukade's back. Mukade must have heard the rustle of her kevlar overalls and turned himself around, facing Sakura.

They were looking at each other for some seconds without any movement; only the wind was fluttering Sakura's short-cut hair. Sakura was absolutely sure that Mukade's face under the mask was looking shocked, grimace of disappointment and indignation was casting a gloom over her own face. Seeing, that she will have to break silence first, Sakura said:

"You, should be dead", her words sounded cold, without showing any of the feelings she had.

"How dare you speaking to me in such a tone!" hissed Mukade, his haughty voice was not only distorted by the mask, but also full of anger and rancour.

Mukade leaned forward going to strike Sakura, but he was stopped by the katana of young ninja pointing to his neck. No muscle of Sakura's face moved, when she challenged her sensei, the one who she at one time considered invulnerable.

"You were defeated, Mukade." Sakura's voice remained as cold as before. "You were defeated by a girl, who is noticeably weaker then me and much less skillful. Do you really think you could possibly defeat me? Especially now, after your battle?"

Mukade kept silence; he understood that Sakura was right. Meanwhile she slowly moved her sword down, without hiding it in sheath.

"I saw your defeat, Mukade. You clearly know what happens to the defeated, but left alive of **your** rank." Mukade knew it, he was interested what kind of game was his former learner starting; he went out from the battle stand. Meanwhile Sakura continued:

"So, it would be better for you to be dead, but it is not so. Probably you have already understood that if you would remain in the clan, then your defeat would invite such unwanted publicity." Sakura's words sounded slower and slower, returning to her usual way of speaking slowly and song-like. "It is better for you to disappear, Mukade. Dzyenin will here a heroic story about your battle with a dozen of Syndicate soldiers and about you dying of a traitorous bolt fired into your back from the Mercury Bow of one of the Syndicate troopers." self-satisfied smile returned to Sakura's face and she reminded of a cat warming itself in the rays of mid-day sun."

"Why are you doing this?" apart from being distorted by mask Mukade's voice sounded curious, suspicious and angry at once.

"Why?" Sakura's brows went up and become seen from under the visor. "I respect you, Mukade. I owe it to you what I am now. But you can no longer be the master; there are now people who fit into being a master much more then you." Sakura grinned. "But I don't wish your death… Don't wish your death anymore… After seeing your weakness. You should leave the clan, but leaving the clan and remaining alive is impossible, that means that dzyenin should consider you dead."

"You underestimate the mind of others in the dzyenin. Your "heroic story" is not enough for them to consider me dead, they will think that you, as one of the nearest to me are only trying to help me leave the clan. You need the proof of my death." this time his voice was not distorted by anything except his mask.

"I think that your mask would be enough for the dzyenin to believe in your «sudden and unwanted end» and not to try following or seeking you." Sakura slightly leaned her head back and to the right.

"You want me to take off the mask?" Mukade's voice was filling with indignation with each word. "Well… It might be the only way…" he continued in a tone more unsure then agreeing.

Though Mukade agreeing to her so fast puzzled Sakura, she soonly forgot her worries. She was much more interested in whose face was hidden under the mask.

Now? How did you like that? Please review this story! If there will be reviews I will continue posting new chapters for the story. Some terms might have been transliterated wrongly, if anybody notices any mistakes please let me know, I'll rewrite the chapter to get rid of the mistakes then.


	2. 

Uuh… I finally have a new dictionary so I could translate the remainder of the first chapter. This and the previous chapter were meant to be one, so you know why is this one so short. I'll try to keep the new chapters coming, though I might be away for a month or so.

Mukade slowly turned himself around exposing his back to Sakura and reached with his hands to his face. Now only hissing and clicking of the locks Mukade's mask was held on broke the silence of cold night. Filled with excitement Sakura's breath was slower and slower until she completely stopped breathing. Suddenly the backside of Mukade's helmet fell off. For a second or two Sakura could see Mukade's neck and back, only a bruise was seen instead of fracture, until the long hair, held by the helmet before, fell and obscured it. Mukade turned with his face back to Sakura continuing to take his mask off.

Now Sakura could see the face, which could have been unseen by anybody for many years and her breath, that didn't even fully return, was taken away by the excitement again. Meanwhile Mukade has already taken his mask and was giving it to her, but she didn't notice any of that – she was so keen on studying the face of her former sensei that she couldn't possibly see anything else around her. Mukade's thin, pale face, which was in great need of sunshine, was surrounded by night sky-black hair, cold brown eyes, sharp chick-bones, sunken cheeks and straight nose… Almost as she has imagined, for a second Sakura wanted to tear her visor away to expose her face, but it would be a silly thing to do. Her face was never a mystery to others – the visor covered only the eyes.

The full-face masks were worn only by gyenin and… by Mukade. Dzyenin considered wearing mask beneath their dignity, tyunin wore the masks only seldom, in order to hide their identity. Only the gyenin wore the masks all the time, nobody seen their faces and they died in obscurity. Sakura was forced to wear her visor, which wasn't even a real mask.

Sakura took the mask from Mukade's hands trying not to leave him out of her sight, but the curiosity appeared to be stronger and Sakura plunged into studying the inner built of Mukade's mask. It disappointed Sakura, it had nothing except air filters inside, a part of it was transparent from inside, Mukade must have seen through it, no aiming systems, no special devices for vision enhancements… Finished studying it she looked at Mukade, he must have been having a tedious time seeing that his mask seems to be much more interesting then his face, which he considered worthy female interest in it.

"What are you going to do?"

"Have some rest…" Mukade smiled fatigued. "Sooner or later I would have to "leave" the clan. Thoughts of feigning my death have already visited my mind many times. You must be my gift of destiny." His voice sounded really tired. The thought that being the clan master would be hard came to Sakura for the first time, however she won't give up on her way to becoming one.

She frowned.

"It would be better for you to leave now, we can be seen and your outfit is to original to be seen and remain unrecognized."

Mukade's body became covered with phase-cloak like haze more with each second he turned around and went to the rooftop's edge. Mukade already got ready for jump and his body became almost invisible when he heard Sakura's question:

"But how could you remain alive?.. That wound should have killed you."

Mukade slightly turned his head.

"Service of one «acquaintance». I helped him – he helped me." – Mukade stated firmly.

Sakura wanted to ask many questions more, but it already was only she and the wind remaining.

NOTE: Now? How did you like that? Please R&R! Oh, and how did you like my description of Mukade's face? Hope to hear your opinions.


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